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RAILROAD GROSS TIE.

G. W; VR0MAN Patented July 5, 1881.

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INVENTOR wfw/ BY i492! @f ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. VROMAN, OF NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA.

' RAILROAD CROSS-Tl E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,003, dated July 5, 1881. Application filed November 5, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern V Beit known that L'GEORGE W. VROMAN, of North Platte, in the county of Lincoln and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and Improved Railroad Gross-Tie, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and durable railroad-tie that will secure a rail firmly without the use of bolts, keys, or wedges applied directly to the rail.

Figure 1. is a plan of the device in position on a railroad. Fig. 2 is a plan view, showing the manner of applying the improved tie. Fig. 3 is a partly-sectional transverse elevation on line a: m, Fig. 1. Fig. at is a plan of the reverse of a plate. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a connecting-bar. Fig. 6 is an end elevation on line y 3 Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, A represents arect-angular plate, of iron or other suitable material, provided on its face, near its edges, with clamps a a, that have theirjaws directed in opposite directions and set far enough apart to clamp over and upon the opposite edges of the base of a rail. Said plate is provided also with a flat longitudinal groove, 1), on its face, for the reception of a connecting-bar, B, and has its under side deeply grooved or corrugated, as shown at 0, whereby said plate A is given a better hold upon the road-bed, while the earth directly beneath the plate is thereby better protected against washing or jarrin g from beneath the plate, and consequently preventing the tie from settling or being beaten down by the traffic on the road. A connecting-bar, B, is a simple flat bar of iron or other suitable material, with one end bent up to form a hook, d, while in the other end is a vertical perforation, f, and said bar B is designed to lie in the groove b of the plate A, flush with the face of the latter.

The manner of applying this tie is to place each plate A, carrying a bar, B, beneath a rail, 0, in a diagonal position, as shown in Fig. 2, and in then rotating said plates A in the directions of the arrows, Fig. 2, until they are brought in a straight line with each other and at right angles to the rails O G, which brings the jaws of the clamps a a over the outer and inner edges of the base of the rails O (J, as shown, and the hooks d of the connecting-bars B engaged upon the outer edges of the said railbases. The perforated ends of said bars B are then brought together centrally between the rails G O, and a bolt, 9, passed through them, wherebythe rails O U are firmly secured, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

I am aware that it is not new to form railroad-chairs in two parts or railway-sleepers with clips or chairs in order to hold the rails without bolts and nuts; also, that it is not new to bolt the rails to the sleepers and connect the latter by a cross-tie having a central coupling, or to provide chairs with arms coupled together and serving as a cross-tie, or to connect chairs by diagonal rods, or to arrange the jaws of a chair so as not to be opposite and adapted to be removed from the sleeper, or to provide a cross-tie with two ribs or flanges at each end, so as to form a seat for the chair, or to connect artificial blocks together by a crosstie having flanged ends; but

What I do claim is- A metallic railroad-tie made in two similar parts, adapted to be turned toward each other, having jaws to a, and provided with hooks B, as shown and described.

GEORGE WASHINGTON VROMAN.

WVitnesses WM. WOODHURST, G. M. BILLETT. 

